Dreams...

Do you have a dream or two?

I always seem to have one, two or more dreams swirling around in my head. Some are short-term, some are long-term, some are active, some are unrealistic and some are far-off.

But all are important to me.

I dream of seeing the end of extreme poverty...

I dream of serving the Lord through missions, as a family - no matter where we are...

I dream of homeschooling my children...

I dream of having a little more land...

I dream of a simpler life...

I dream of Africa (Kenya and Ghana specifically), the Dominican Republic, , India, Alaska, Hawaii, Australia - basically I dream of traveling....

I dream of eternity....

I dream of flying...(not in a plane, like a bird)

My dreams give me focus and help me to live intentionally, but they also sometimes distract me from the present.

When homeschooling's not going well, I forget that I am actively pursuing my dream - even when it's hard.

When I'm planning the details of our upcoming family mission trip to Thailand, I forget that my neighbors and family members need my encouragement and prayers.

When I'm dreaming about a big garden in a new location with more acreage, I forget about how much I love our yard.

When I'm dreaming of less clutter and a simpler life, I forget to be thankful for our abundance - that we have MORE than enough.

Most of us have been encouraged to dream....dream big things for God. But what happens when God takes away our dream? Even when we are acting on our dreams - living them out - and they include doing good things for God....if our dreams become more important than our relationship with God, it's probably time to let them go. 

Sometimes God might let our dreams fall apart in order to draw us nearer to Him.

Sometimes God might ask us to let go of our dreams and simply follow Him.

Sometimes God might nudge us to abandon our dream so we have room for His dream in our lives.

So dream....dream big....but then surrender your dreams to God and see what He wants to do.